ABSTRACT

Even if boundary making and network designing does succeed in creating viable and persistent alternative economies, the question remains: “Why is the existence of alternative economies important?” After all, these economies seldom account for more than a few percentage points of a mainstream world economy that remains mired in unsustainable production systems. In this chapter, we will argue that alternative economies, and the ability to create new economies that can survive outside of the mainstream, are more important than the percentages of economic life they represent. They are important because we will not be able to solve the problems of the future without them. We are on a new economic horizon where we will need to think about and create environmentally sustain able forms of economic life. Alternative economies may provide valuable signposts to the creation of a more sustainable mainstream economic future.